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Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Hi all! Thought I'd take advantage to give an update to our move to New Zealand as I'm wide awake at 4.15am - yes, still adjusting to the time zone here in New Zealand! Fell asleep at 8pm yesterday, dribbling into my top (gorgeous) whilst trying to stay awake to look for somewhere to live. But I'm getting there and hope to have acclimatised by the weekend.

So we've been living for two days now in a service apartment at the Barclay Suites, which basically means it's got a kitchen, washing facilities, etc. This place is slap bang in the middle of Auckland Central and has amazing views from our apartment on the 22nd floor.

View North towards the ferry terminal. My office is the white building behind the ANZ building nearest to the water.

The famous Sky Tower - the tallest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our first sunset in Auckland.

We're here for two weeks so we're now on a hunt to find somewhere to rent a.s.a.p., but we're a bit limited because we need a dog friendly place and they are few and far between.

Speaking of our dog, we're picking up our Lulu on 6 June. The poor thing has been stuck in a crate, on a 30 hour flight without any food. She should have landed by now in Auckland and residing in a kennel for a 10 day quarantine. I really want to go and see my baby but we're not allowed to touch her so I think it may be more distressing for her to see us but then watch us walk away. I miss her so much and feel sooooooo guilty putting her through this. Now I need a hug after writing that.

The weather has been really mixed - pouring with rain one moment and then glorious sunshine the next. Typical NZ weather. We're just about to enter into Winter (yes, very bad timing for our move!) which means average day time temperatures of 14-18 degs. Not too bad. Better than the UK with winter average in the South East of 3-5 degs. One of the main reasons of moving here. I've had many people asking why we want to move to the other side of the world, away from our family and friends. Believe me, it's not because I'm trying to get away from them, lol! It's beautifully captured here Why I Love New Zealand by kimipom so feel free to take a look.

It's all feeling very surreal to me being here. It feels like being on holiday and it's not sunk in that this is now our home. I really do miss my family and friends though. I saw a lady today in a shopping mall who looked a bit like my mum and I started crying. I wish you could all move over here and be with me!

Other initial observations since arriving:

The city has really developed due to hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It's much more cosmopolitan with designer shops and good looking restaurants. Having two harbours there is plenty of waterside views

When we were here eight years ago we were surprised by how many Chinese and Asians there were. This time round, there are a lot more Indian. A very multi-cultural city just like London, but the people here are still really friendly, unlike in London!

Okay, switching off now. Will write again once we've moved into our rental. See you soon!

Monday, 18 May 2015

Hi everybody! I won't be posting anything crafty for the next few months while my crafty stuff makes it slow and merry way to the other side of the world. I've been asked by many of you to keep you abreast of my new adventure to emigrate to New Zealand so feel free to either get a cuppa and read on, or move on to some one else's blog with crafty inspiration!

Our work visas to New Zealand eventually turned up last week - and what a relief that was as we had so many things "pencilled in" but wasn't able to confirm until we got them. On a practical level, we have been so busy confirming and coordinating everything - like sorting out all of our belongings, buying and shipping over my new car, booking our air tickets, having numerous leaving lunches and do's, handing over my workload, going through my work performance appraisal, organising our accommodation in NZ, decorating and selling our house....the list goes on and on!

You know, all of this practice stuff is easy for me - scope it out, plan it and implement it. It's the project manager in me that can sort this all out and take it in my stride. What's hard is the emotional stuff. Let me give you an example. I had to hand in my work laptop and iPhone on my last day in the office last Thursday. Now I don't care much for them, but I had handed over 19 years of my work life and I suddenly became overwhelmed. I stood there in the middle of Hays Galleria at London Bridge blubbering. Not sophisticated! I soon got over it and managed to have a fantastic leaving lunch with my besties. But I admit that since then I've had a few waves of that feeling of being overwhelmed with the thoughts of leaving behind all that is known to me and jumping into an unfamiliar world that is New Zealand.

I will miss my UK family most of all - mum, dad, my bro, my sister-in-law, my niece, Hollie, and my nephew, Michael. I love them all so much and feel so lucky that I have such great relationships with each of them. But at least I will be that bit nearer to my other bro, his wife and my other nephew, William, who live in Hong Kong. Silver linings, huh? I'm going to encourage them all to move to NZ too!

The removal team were in today - bar from three months worth of clothes, everything is packed and ready to go tomorrow onto the container. We won't see them for 3 months. I will miss my extra large ironing board and super duper steam iron and - most of all - my craft stuff!! I was feeling sad to think that we won't see this stuff for ages and then we got a phone call at lunchtime from our estate agents telling us our house buyers had pulled out. Bummer. And then a few hours later we got another call from them telling us that we had another two offers for the house for the same price. Brilliant. I am sure you can tell that we've been on one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride today!

There are lots of other little details that have kept us on our toes and tested my relationship with my [OCD/anal] husband over the past few months, but I won't bore you with them. Let me just say that you need the patience of an angel and a lot of resilience to stop yourself from SCREAMING!!! Deep breath...lol!

I don't know when I'll be able to write again here, but it will probably be when we've landed in Auckland, New Zealand some time next week. I hope you are all well - and certainly less stressed than me right now!

Friday, 15 May 2015

Today is the last day of the showcases for theSugarPea Designs new release for May, which means they are going to also be released in the store today! Today the team have created some gorgeous projects using three new sets - the Teddybear Picnic and Bee My Honey (this month's freebie fromthe Sweet Incentive Program if you spend $60 or more in the store!) stamp sets and the SugarCuts Thanks die. Here is my DT make using the SugarCuts Thanks die...

We would love to hear your thoughts on the products introduced today!! Please leave a comment on this post and on each of the talented SugarPea Designers shown below and you could WIN! We will chose one lucky person to WIN the Teddybear Picnicstamp set from the comments left here and on the DT Blogs! All winners during our May Product Release will be announced on Monday, May 18th. Our entire May Release will be available in the SugarPea Designs Store at 6:00 PM EST TODAY!! Please click here to shop – and if you are lucky enough to win a set you’ve already purchased, you may choose another stamp set of the same value!

Would you like to win the Welcome Babyset? Well just join the hop and leave a comment on this post and on each of the talented SugarPea Designers shown below and you could WIN! We will chose one lucky person to WIN the Welcome Babystamp set from the comments left here and on the DT Blogs! All winners during our May Product Release will be announced on Monday 18 May!

I think this is be perfect for one of my male colleagues - he loves his books but he's a bit stressed out at the moment so I know he'll appreciate this! I used the Read Between the Lines stamp set and SugarCuts Brainy Bookmarks dies.

Would you like to win the I Like Big Booksset? Well just join the hop and leave a comment on this post and on each of the talented SugarPea Designers shown below and you could WIN! We will chose one lucky person to WIN the I Like Big Booksstamp set from the comments left here and on the DT Blogs! All winners during our May Product Release will be announced on Monday 18 May!

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About Me

Originally from the South East of England, I moved over to Auckland, New Zealand with my husband, Steve, and our baby, Lulu, our Yellow Labrador!
So why the blog? This is my way of challenging myself to continually try new techniques and improve my papercrafting skills. And I also love the crafty community and this blog helps me to connect with them! So stay connected - I love **chatting** with you!

Thanks for being considerate!

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you like what you've seen. I don't mind at all if you want to copy any of my cards, but please don't use them to sell or for submission to any magazines, publications or competitions. Thank you for respecting my copyright!